Avocado Burger Buns

These burgers use avocado halves as the buns. They are a fun and low carb way to serve burgers this summer for your next grilling event.

I am so happy with how these turned out! I’ve been brainstorming ideas for Memorial Day weekend. We will definitely be using our grill and smoker. While browsing through avocado recipes, I came across images for avocado burger buns.

I saw a few photos, but I didn’t like that the avocados were sliced cross-wise, making them really tall and hard to eat. So the first thing I did was slice my avocados lengthwise, so that they are close in height and width to a regular bread bun.

I also kept the ingredients to a minimum. Some baby spinach, thin slices of tomatoes, burger patties and cheese. I made both turkey burgers and beef burgers. I prefer the turkey which pairs really well with avocado. Mr. K preferred the beef version. The assembly of the burgers took a little research. First, you need firm ripe avocados, much like the avocado roses I previously made. You want to choose avocados that still feel firm all around, except at the very tip (where the stem is) there should be a little give if you apply gentle pressure. If you choose an avocado that is already soft all around you’ll have a really hard time peeling the skin off of the avocado without having the avocado flesh sticking to the skin and then your buns won’t look as nice.

The other issue I had a hard time solving was how to get these to stay up. I found that large avocados worked best as they have more surface area to balance on. I did a trial run with some sliders and they just kept toppling over. Also, if you put a few pieces of lettuce underneath, it helps hold the avocado burgers in place. The lettuce also works great as a wrap around your burger so your hands don’t have to get as messy.

While avocado might not work as a bread substitute for everyone, it is a fun way to eat a burger. And if you’re like me and the least favorite part of the burger is the bread, then I think you may enjoy this one. I sure did!

Avocado Burger Buns

Prep Time:15minutes

Cook Time:10minutes

Total Time:25minutes

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: American

Servings:4burgers

A fun and low carb way to eat burgers, using avocados as the burger buns!

4large green leaf lettuce leaveseach one should be big enough to wrap around your avocado burger

salt and pepper

condiments of your choice

Directions:

Slice avocados in half, length-wise. Remove seed. Peel away the skin from the avocado halves. For each avocado, choose the prettier, rounder half. Lay the selected halves face down and then sprinkle with white sesame seeds (about 1/8 tsp each). Gently press the seeds into the surface of the avocado flesh so that they remain in place.

With your ground meat, form four quarter pound balls. Season with salt and pepper. Place onto hot grill (you can also cook in a pan on a stove) and press down gently so that the balls form patties. Cook each side a few minutes until burgers are close to your desired doneness. Add a cheese slice on top of each patty and cover the grill until burgers are done and cheese is melted.

To assemble your burgers, place each of avocado halves without sesame seeds onto a lettuce leaf. If needed, you can slice a little off the bottom of the avocados so that the avocado half has a flat surface to stand on. You can also maneuver and fold the lettuce leaves so that they help form a stable base for the avocado halves. Add 2 pieces of baby spinach, 1 slice of tomato, burger patty, 2 more pieces of spinach, any condiments you desire, and then top with an avocado half (one that has the sesame seeds). You do need to be careful as you stack the burger and place items in a way so that the weight is evenly distributed. Serve burgers while still warm.

When eating the burger, you can unfold and use the lettuce to wrap around the burger, to help keep the burger together and also keep your hands clean as touching the avocado halves directly can get messy.

Notes:

You'll want to use ripe avocados that are firm. They should feel fairly firm all around except at the tip where the stem is. There should be a little give if you apply gentle pressure around the stem area and the stem should come off easily.

Sounds wonderful. I already mash avocados and use them in place of mayo on my burgers and sandwiches, so can easily see doing this. I think I’d probably just use a fork to eat with, though–just a personal preference, not something others would want to do, likely. No matter, these would be super delicious–and I like how simply you did the burgers. I’ve never been impressed with burgers that have peanut butter and onion rings topping them (saw that today, believe it or not), or anything too off kilter.